Sparks @ Lynx - 10/04/17

[VAMike23]

Lynx win WNBA championship with Game 5 victory over Los Angeles

“This one was so hard,” Moore said. “I know I’ve never worked harder. In a playoff series. On or off the court. And it just feels so good to do it.”

[Minneapolis Star Tribune coverage]

 

[TheGOAT23]

The G.O.A.T. !!!!

 

[UConnCat]

The reffing was subpar at best last night...I think most non-Lynx fans would agree with that. LA did get a couple of make up calls after bad calls were made against them, but IMO the initial bad calls were big momentum shifters and usually worked out in the Lynx's favor. Feel free to disagree with me on that one.

And nice job scrambling to find statistics that put Parker in a bad light. That game 3 Parker had 5 assists, 5 steals and 3 blocks plus she set the tone defensively in a low scoring win. She was great that night even if she shot poorly from the floor. Nneka had a good game...fantastic may be a stretch if you watched it.

Parker did have turnovers (3.6 per game...keep on mind Gray averaged 3.4, Fowles 3.2 and Whalen 3.0) and didn't shoot well from 3, but she work her tail off on both ends last night and guarded Fowles for long stretches when Nneka was out. I did think some of the calls against Nneka were chippy, but at the end of the day she has to avoid fouling out in game 5 of the finals with most of the 4th quarter to go.

2 years ago in the deciding game 3 vs the Lynx, Parker had 28 points, 13 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 TOs on 9-19 shooting. Nneka had 12 points, 4 boards, 4 assists, 5-7 shooting and fouled out in 32 minutes.

Game 5 last year, Parker had 28 points, 12 boards, 1 assist, 4 TO on 12-22 shooting. Nneka had 12 points, 12 boards, 1 assist on 6-10 shooting with 5 fouls in 31 minutes of play.

Last night in game 5 the difference was production by the frontcourt. Brunson and
Fowles combined for 30 points and 28 rebounds (not to mention Moore's 18/10). Parker worked her butt off and finished with 19/15, 5 assists, 5 blocks, 2 steals (and 5 TOs) while Nneka fouled out with 11/3 in under 30 minutes.

Three years in a row in the deciding game where Nneka has a subpar performances. She's a great player, but that was the difference in the game. I'd Nneka avoids the fouls and rebounds harder, LA could've won last night.

I think you're being more than a little hard on Nneka. She's 6-2 and it was her job to bang with the bigger and physical Sylvia in the lane on both ends of the floor. Parker plays mostly on the perimeter on offense and was mostly a help defender against Sylvia on defense. The physical banging with Sylvia, which Parker mostly avoided, clearly took a toll on the smaller Nneka. After 5 games of that was it any wonder that other parts of her game would be affected. I'm sure Nneka would have loved for someone else to deal with Sylvia.

I didn't see any glaring errors by the officials in any of the games. No team was given 9 seconds to get the ball to the front court or given 25 seconds to get a shot off in critical possessions. Maybe some calls were missed or wrong, but that happens in every game. I didn't see the calls benefit one team over the other.

 

[UConnCat]

Hmmm I admire her defending her big Sis but maybe, as a TV studio analyst, it would have been best to stop after the first sentence.

 

[eebmg]

Hmmm

Reasonable view given it is her sister and it must be brutal to be sitting out almost the entire 4th quarter when the game is on the line. Her defensive assignment was just impossible. Bottom line is that the more physical team will draw more fouls.

By the way, I was actually curious if Magic Johnson came around to support the Sparks (since he was so visible in LA). I did not see any cutaways so I guess not.

 

[UConnCat]

 

[MilfordHusky]

Hmmm I admire her defending her big Sis but maybe, as a TV studio analyst, it would have been best to stop after the first sentence.

Agreed. It’s beneath Chiney to be whiny.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Plus 2 World Cups, 1 Spanish League, and 1 Euroleague, at least. The 125-3 in high school included 3 Georgia championships. (One of the high school losses was to national #1 Christ the King with Tina Charles and Lorin Dixon in OT, a game in which Maya fouled out on a bogus call.)

 

[VAMike23]

Agreed. It’s beneath Chiney to be whiny.

And also, if she was referring to Maya, Maya has gotten a lot of fouls called on her in big games, including the Finals.
She gets in first-half foul trouble with some regularity, as a matter of fact.

As it happened, last night her focus was especially laser-like--she knew she had to bring some thunder and the bench was not the place for her. She played hard but didn't get a lot of homer or superstar calls.

 

[UConnCat]

Carl's story

Another WNBA title for ex-Huskies Moore, Montgomery

"You know, and like Coach [Cheryl Reeve] said, at a certain point players make play and Maya made that runner at the free-throw line, which is why she's Maya Moore, which is also why we like her on our team."

"Maya made a hard shot," Reeve said. "That shot that she made there at the end, that's not something that comes easy, you know, kind of a runner/floater from like 15 feet. But I heard Lindsay say, that's Maya Moore. That's what she does. She makes plays."

And wins.

 

[EricSD]

Tremendous series. Bush league to blame the refs or Nneka for the loss. At 6'2", she gives up 4" to the bigger and strong Fowles, who is the MVP and a future HOF'er. Parker is bigger than Nneka. Why not put her on Fowles? Most of us know the answer (see Parker's performance against Cambage - she apparently hates to bang), but blaming Nneka? As a leader, Parker could have stepped up and taken on that challenge instead of leaving it to her severely undersized teammate.

Still, great series. Games of runs for both teams. Tenacious defense by both teams. And an incredibly physical game. If the refs called ALL the fouls committed, most of the starters would have ended up on the bench. Congrats to all the Lynx players, but especially to Maya and Renee - 2 UCONN fan favorites. Clearly good won over evil...

 

[wallman]

Egads, but what a great series. Thoroughly enjoyed these match ups. A few take aways from my point of view.

Size matters. Too much size in the paint. When Brunson started to bring it, we were doomed.

At first, I though we had the advantage in the backcourt and Sims did a great job of showing weaknesses in the Lynx handling but down the stretch we couldn't put the ball in the basket and Chelsea was also stifled by the Lynx D.

It's still my opinion that CP needs to play in the paint more and try to get the other teams bigs hit with some fouls there. The Sparks need to rethink their bench and we could likely lose Lav.

 

[Carnac]

Fowles should end up in the Naismith HOF when all is said and done.

She's flown somewhat under the radar as an all-time player.

......................Until now. This was BIG Syl's "come out" year.

Two questions:
1. The Lynx win the championship EVERY OTHER year. That means they won't win it next year, who's the favorite to win it all next year? The Sparks?, the Liberty?, the Sun?, the Mercury?
2. Now that Fowles has firmly established herself as the dominant (MVP) post player in the W, what player do you see (think) will be able to stop or contain her one on one next year?

 

[Trappa]

Maya will go down as the greatest. Unbelievable player with talent and maturity well beyond her years. It's easy to forget she just turned 28 (only a year and a half older than Griner, for comparison).

 

[EricSD]

Maya will go down as the greatest. Unbelievable player with talent and maturity well beyond her years. It's easy to forget she just turned 28 (only a year and a half older than Griner, for comparison).

Until Stewie turns 28...

 

[Carnac]

Carl's story

Another WNBA title for ex-Huskies Moore, Montgomery

"You know, and like Coach [Cheryl Reeve] said, at a certain point players make play and Maya made that runner at the free-throw line, which is why she's Maya Moore, which is also why we like her on our team."

"Maya made a hard shot," Reeve said. "That shot that she made there at the end, that's not something that comes easy, you know, kind of a runner/floater from like 15 feet. But I heard Lindsay say, that's Maya Moore. That's what she does. She makes plays."

And wins.

For those that have been following Maya since she arrived in Storrs, they understand that this could easily have been said (and often was) during her time at UConn!! She was doing the same exact things then. The only difference is that she's now doing them at the next level, and doing them CONSISTENTLY!!!

Nothing has really changed about her lately. She was a great teammate then. She was a great competitor then, and she was a great "role model" then. She made plays then, she makes plays now! You could call her the female version of Michael Irvin. During his playing days with the Dallas Cowboys, his moniker was "The playmaker" If there was a Mount Rushmore of the 4 greatest women to ever come through UConn's program, I personally think Maya, the playmaker should be on it.

 

[UConnCat]

Egads, but what a great series. Thoroughly enjoyed these match ups. A few take aways from my point of view.

Size matters. Too much size in the paint. When Brunson started to bring it, we were doomed.

At first, I though we had the advantage in the backcourt and Sims did a great job of showing weaknesses in the Lynx handling but down the stretch we couldn't put the ball in the basket and Chelsea was also stifled by the Lynx D.

It's still my opinion that CP needs to play in the paint more and try to get the other teams bigs hit with some fouls there. The Sparks need to rethink their bench and we could likely lose Lav.

Really good points. The keys for the Lynx were Brunson's play (after game 1) and the fact that Whalen found ways to score last night.

I do wonder what Nneka is thinking these days. She is a great teammate but forcing her to bang with Sylvia in the paint is a lot to ask and affects other parts of her game.

Lavender's mid-range shot is money but she's not one to mix it up in the lane.

 

[Carnac]

Really good points. The keys for the Lynx were Brunson's play (after game 1) and the fact that Whalen found ways to score last night.

I do wonder what Nneka is thinking these days. She is a great teammate but forcing her to bang with Sylvia in the paint is a lot to ask and affects other parts of her game.

Lavender's mid-range shot is money but she's not one to mix it up in the lane.

Great points!!! If the Sparks want to compete on a level playing field with Minnesota, they're going to have to go out (somewhere) and find themselves a BIG post player that can and will BANG with Fowles or anyone else, and hold her own. Right now, trying to stop Fowles is like playing poker without any chips.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Great points!!! If the Sparks what to compete on a level playing field with Minnesota, they're going to have to go out (somewhere) and find themselves a BIG post player that can and will BANG with Fowles or anyone else, and hold her own. Right now, trying to stop Fowles is like playing poker without any chips.

Even Griner has trouble with Fowles. I’m not sure Stokes can slow her down. Maybe someone down the road can, but the list of candidates is short.

 

[UConnCat]

Great points!!! If the Sparks what to compete on a level playing field with Minnesota, they're going to have to go out (somewhere) and find themselves a BIG post player that can and will BANG with Fowles or anyone else, and hold her own. Right now, trying to stop Fowles is like playing poker without any chips.

I disagree. The Sparks did compete with Minnesota and at times during the series looked like the better team. The Lynx were able to gut out another championship but the cracks in the back court showed and next season it may not matter that Sylvia is still dominating the lane. The Sparks won the championship last year and likely will be favorites to win next year. I love Whalen and Augustus but I don't know how many more miles are left for them. The Lynx need an infusion of youth and athleticism, particularly in the back court.

 

[trb123]

Congratulations to Lynx.
Maya was great. I wish I could say the same about Rene.
I am worried that next year Lynx will be older and Sparks may be better particularly if they can add a center.

 

[meyers7]

I think you're being more than a little hard on Nneka. She's 6-2 and it was her job to bang with the bigger and physical Sylvia in the lane on both ends of the floor. Parker plays mostly on the perimeter on offense and was mostly a help defender against Sylvia on defense. The physical banging with Sylvia, which Parker mostly avoided, clearly took a toll on the smaller Nneka. After 5 games of that was it any wonder that other parts of her game would be affected. I'm sure Nneka would have loved for someone else to deal with Sylvia.

Hmmmm.

 

[Justavisitor]

Tremendous series. Bush league to blame the refs or Nneka for the loss. At 6'2", she gives up 4" to the bigger and strong Fowles, who is the MVP and a future HOF'er. Parker is bigger than Nneka. Why not put her on Fowles? Most of us know the answer (see Parker's performance against Cambage - she apparently hates to bang), but blaming Nneka? As a leader, Parker could have stepped up and taken on that challenge instead of leaving it to her severely undersized teammate.

Still, great series. Games of runs for both teams. Tenacious defense by both teams. And an incredibly physical game. If the refs called ALL the fouls committed, most of the starters would have ended up on the bench. Congrats to all the Lynx players, but especially to Maya and Renee - 2 UCONN fan favorites. Clearly good won over evil...

Parker did defend Fowles for much of the series, including last night. Nneka defended Brunson most of the time. They found out early on that Fowles has a much more difficult time against the length of Candace. The biggest issue was when they brought in the bench and Lavender just is quick enough defensively. This limited her playing time which meant too many minutes for both Nneka and Candace.

 

[Justavisitor]

Lucky for the Sparks, with Nneka fouled out, Beard with 5 and Sims with 4

This. The league has got to get better officiating. Sue Blauch is just awful. She can't keep up with the NCAA players, so she certainly has no business in the WNBA. The players (all of them and on both teams) work to hard at their craft to keep getting short changed by officials.

 

[Justavisitor]

Congrats to the Lynx--they played better as a team and appeared to want it more. Fowles was an absolute beast tonight and Whalen had a great game. Moore did a lot of little things well and made the biggest play of the night.

3rd year in a row that Nneka has performed quite poorly against the Lynx in the playoffs. She hit the winner last year but was subpar most of the series. Tonight she was flat out bad...she got owned on the boards and was largely ineffective besides a few buckets early.

Sad for Parker that she didn't get another title tonight. She worked her butt off all night and did what she could to rally LA. I thought it was an uphill battle for the Sparks with the reffing tonight but they had their chances and didn't make the most of them. Lots of missed shots by Lavender, Sims and Beard. They need a better backup post to replace Lavender next year. Someone with size and who can rebound. I think La is the favorite next year if the starting 5 return. The guards are onl getting better and Nneka/Parker aren't slowing down.

Well said and spot on. Although Nneka was undersized, all series long, I felt she attempts to bang inside against bigger players too often. Maybe she's trying to draw fouls, but in this match up, she has got to be ready to hit her spot up 10 -15 footers. Not blaming Nneka. It's just a bad match up and a match up that she's going to need to figure out. LA needs another big that's more mobile and more of an inside beast than Lavender.

 

[j66kicker]

This. The league has got to get better officiating. Sue Blauch is just awful. She can't keep up with the NCAA players, so she certainly has no business in the WNBA. The players (all of them and on both teams) work to hard at their craft to keep getting short changed by officials.

Agree the officiating is bad in WNBA. But not that it was biased against the Sparks last night. Nneka got fouls because she just couldn’t contain Syl. The Sparks just got beat by a better team.

 

[Geew1992]

Parker did defend Fowles for much of the series, including last night. Nneka defended Brunson most of the time. They found out early on that Fowles has a much more difficult time against the length of Candace. The biggest issue was when they brought in the bench and Lavender just is quick enough defensively. This limited her playing time which meant too many minutes for both Nneka and Candace.

Not sure I would say a more difficult time. She averaged 18 and 15. If Minnesota looked to Syl earlier in games, she probably would have averaged 25. And NO ONE kept her off the O boards

 

[UConnCat]

Parker did defend Fowles for much of the series, including last night. Nneka defended Brunson most of the time. They found out early on that Fowles has a much more difficult time against the length of Candace. The biggest issue was when they brought in the bench and Lavender just is quick enough defensively. This limited her playing time which meant too many minutes for both Nneka and Candace.

Not accurate. Nneka was the primary defender on Fowles and Parker defended Brunson. That was the case throughout the series. Parker defended Fowles on occasional possessions (off of switches or if the defense couldn't match up) but even with Nneka out of the game it was Lavender who tried to defend Sylvia. Rebecca Lobo talked throughout the series about Parker giving help defense off of Brunson which presented opportunities for Brunson.

 

[Shades]

Agree the officiating is bad in WNBA. But not that it was biased against the Sparks last night. Nneka got fouls because she just couldn’t contain Syl. The Sparks just got beat by a better team.

Nneka had careless fouls like she always does, but the refs weren't overlooking them last night.

 

[BigBird]

Given the come-back runs the Lynx consistently allowed, I am a little surprised that they won it all. I don't know what the issue was, but the Sparks' rally was scary, if futile.